Folding door structure



Jan. 18, 1966 A. MOORER FOLDING DOOR STRUCTURE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledFeb. 11, 1964 INVENTOR C A MOORE R BY W /Mn'm/ Fig./

ATTORNEYS Jan. 18, 1966 c. A. MOORER FOLDING DOOR STRUCTURE 3Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 11, 1964 INVENTOR c. A MOORER ATTORNEYj Ja ui.18, 1966 c. A. MOORER 3,229,751

FOLDING DOOR S TRUCTURE Filed Feb. 11, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 5' INVENTORC. A.MOORER BYW ATTORNEYS United States Patent M 3,229,751 FOLDING DOORSTRUCTURE Clarence Alan Moorer, 4423 Dixie Drive, Jackson, Miss. FiledFeb. 11, 1964, Ser. No. 344,027 6 Claims. (Cl. 160-185) This inventionrelates to a folding door, and particularly one of the type formed ofvertically elongated panels folded accordion-like at one side of thedoor opening.

In the usual type of folding door the adjacent panels are held togetherin hinging relation by means of flexible hinge members secured to thelongitudinal edges of'the panels. This member is difficult to secure inplace and is hard to conceal and tends to mar the beauty of the doorsince it must be made of different material from the material of thepanels.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a folding door whichis primarily made of wood or other substantially rigid material andwherein the alternately arranged panels and hinge bearing rails are madeof the same material, and the flexible hinge member is eliminated.

Another object of the invention is to employ novel hinge means at theends of the panels which hold the longitudinal edges of adjacent panelsin socket bearing relation to the bearing rails.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a folding doorwhich is easy to install and easy to operate, and wherein the door issuspended from a track along the head of the door frame by means ofguided ball bearing rollers.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a novelsealing means along the edges of the panels at the socket bearing jointsand at the bottom and top of the door to reduce the sound transmissionand prevent loss of heat and air conditioning loss where airconditioning is provided.

A still further object of this invention is toform a folding door ofsturdy construction, well coordinated in movement and one that can befabricated, if desired, from extrusions of aluminum, magesium or othermetals or plastics.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will becomemore apparent upon reference to the following specification, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation of a folding door assembly embodying theinvention;

FIGURE 2 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 22 of FIGURE1;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view of the door structure in its folded or openposition, taken on line 33 of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of one form of trolley member used in the doorstructure;

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged, partly sectional fragmentary view of thetrolley supporting arrangement of the present invention;

FIGURE 6 is a plan view of the toggle coordinator taken on line 66 ofFIGURE 1;

FIGURE 7 is an exploded plan view of the sturdy hinge constructionemployed at each end of the paneled door;

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged sectional view of the hinging socket joint alongthe line 8-8 of FIGURE 1, showing the preferred form of sealing means;

FIGURE 9 is a view similar to FIGURE 8, but showing a modified form ofsealing means;

FIGURE 10 is an exploded view of FIGURE 9;

FIGURE 11 is a perspective view of an end of a door panel showing thesealing member applied thereto;

3,229,751 Patented Jan. 18, 1966 FIGURE 12 is a transverse section ofFIGURE 11, taken on the line 1212, showing the insulating member thatmay be employed on the top and bottom of the panel members;

FIGURE 13 is a front view of the trolley shown in FIGURE 4; and

FIGURE 14 is an enlarged sectional view of a modified hinge jointshowing an opening stop.

Referring to the drawings somewhat more in detail, FIGURE 1 illustratesthe folding door structure of the present invention mounted in itsoperative position within a doorway defined by a doorway jamb frame 14.The door strucutre includes a lead post 15 at one end thereof and a jambpost 16 at the other end thereof fixedly attached in overlying parallelrelation to a portion of the door jamb structure 17. Intermediate theposts 15 and 16 are a plurality of hingedly related panel sectionsincluding from right to left, as viewed in FIGURE 1, a half panel 18,full panels 20, 21, 22 and 23, and a half panel 19. The door structureas illustrated in its closed condition extends across the doorway withthe lead posts 15 thereof in sealing abutment with a lead post jamb 24.The lead post 15 carries a handle of any suit able type.

As shown in FIGURES l and 2 the panels 18 to 23 are mounted to havehinging relation to one another about cylindrical bearing rails 25. Thelongitudinal edges of the adjacent panels have concave cylindricalsurfaces which receive the respective cylindrical rails in socketedhinging relation. These panels and rails are held in socketed hingedrelation by means of rigid hinge elements secured at the ends of thepanels and rails.

As shown in FIGURES 1 and 7, these rigid hinge elements are made up ofe.g. three superposed layers of binge leaves or plates 26. Certainleaves or plates of each layer have circular extensions 27 at each endand others have concave bearing surfaces 28 at each end. The combinedlayers have circular extensions overlapping and superposed over the endof each rail and axially pivoted thereto. The leaves or plates arefurther secured to the ends of the panels wherein the panels are held infixed position relative to the hinged leaves and are in fixed slidesocket bearing relation to the respective rails.

Referring again to FIGURES 1 and 2, the lead post 15 is supported by apair of trolleys or wheels 29 through a pair of hanger members 30. Sincethese trolleys are maintained in spaced parallel relation by means ofthe track housing 39, this panel section 15 is held against pivotalmovement about its longitudinal axis during operation of the doorstructure. The manner in which the lead post 15 is attached to thetrolley 29 is not described in detail for the reason that any suitablemeans may be utilized whereby this panel section is supported fornonpivotal movement during operation of the door structure.

As shown in FIGURES l, 2 and 3, 5 and 6, the diameter of thtecylindrical rails is each substantially twice the thickness of thepanels. Also the full panels 20 through 23 are supported by a trolleyarrangement which in each instance utilizes a hanger member 31 andtrolley. The trolleys or wheels are substantially of the same diameteras the rails and are arranged for abutting relation in the fullycontracted condition of the door structure, FIGURE 3. Each hanger member31 and one of the hanger members 30 is pivotably secured to a cross linkconnection of a toggle 32 shown in FIGURES 1, 5 and this toggle membercoordinates the movement of all the panels in unison.

The panels are designed to bring about a seal between the longitudinaledges of each panel and the cylindrical rail. The concaved edge of thepanel is provided with a groove running longitudinally thereof, as shownin FIG- URE 8. Within the groove is positioned a sealing meanspreferably a hollow resilient tube 33 which projects slightly from thecurved surface of the panel and bears against the cylindrical surface ofthe rails thereby sealing the joint therebetween. An alternative form.is shown in F IG- URES 9 and 10 wherein the sealing means is a groovedresilient rod 34 which is pressed outwardly by a spring 35'.

As shown in FIGURES 11 and 12, the sealing means on the ends of the doormay comprise a member 35 U- shaped in cross section, which carriesparallel projecting brushes 37 which tend to sound insulate the cracksabove and below the door.

As shown in FIGURES 4 and 13, the front trolley may include anadditional guide roller 38 which rotates on a vertical axis and contactsthe opposite inwardly facing Walls of the closure 39 and guides the leadpanel in a smooth undeviating path.

As previously described, the hinge leaves 26 shown in FIGURE 7, havecircular extensions which overlap the end of the respective rails. Thesecircular extensions each has the same diameter as the rails and have acentral opening through which a pintle-like member 40 extends and isaxially and fixedly secured to the end of the rail. The circularextensions may carry cooperating stops 41 (FIG. 14) which prevent thehinge elements from opening to a full 180 relation with each other.

It will thus be understood that it is desired to comprehend within thepurview of this invention various changes in the structure of the hinge.While in the preferred embodiment three leaves are superposed as formingthe hinge, it should be understood that the invention is not to belimited to these precise details since the number of superposed leavesis not critical.

While the invention has been shown and illustrated in its preferredembodiments, it will be understood that this invention is susceptible tomodification in order to adapt it to diiferent usages and conditions,and accordingly, it is desired to comprehent such modifications withinthis invention as may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A folding door comprising a series of panels hinged- 1y fitted toeach other in edge-to-edge relation by means of a rail with only asingle cylindrical surface between every two adjacent panels, pintlemeans axially secured to the end of said rail, said rail being of thesame length as the adjacent panels, said panels having concavecylindrical surfaces adjacent said rail and platelike hinge elementssecured to the end faces of the panels and having their adjacentendsoverlappin-g and pivotally connected about said pintle means inalignment with the central axis of said cylindrical surface.

2. The folding door of claim 1, wherein the cylindrical surface of therail has a diameter equal to at least twice the thickness of an adjacentpanel and the latters cylindrical bearing surface fitting against thecylindrical surface of the rail with freedom for relative hingingmovement.

3. The folding door of claim 1, in combination with an upright pinmounted centrally on one of the panels, a trackway above said panels andmeans on the upper end of the pin for suspending it'from and guiding italong the trackway.

4. The folding door of claim 1, in combination with an upright pinmounted centrally on each of a plurality of said panels, a trackwayabove said panels from which the pins and panels are suspended and alongwhich they are guided, and a lazy tongs whose central pivots are coaxialwith the pins.

5. The folding door of claim 2, wherein the central 'axis of thecylindrical bearing surface of the rail is offset from the medial planeof the panel sufficiently to be substantially coplanar with a face ofthe panel.

6. The folding door of claim 3, in combination with a half panelconnecting one end of the door to a jamb post, a half panel connectingthe other end of the door to a lead post, and ahanger member and trolleyfor suspending the lead post from the trackway and guiding it along thelatter.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 543,906 8/1895Spaulding -229 2,307,560 1/ 1943 Apel 160229 X 2,553,637 5/1951 De Camp.2,717,0'33 9/1955 Breslow et al 160-199 X 2,867,841 1/1959 B-ald'auf16140 X 2,959,220 11/ 1960 Latham 160199 3,033,283 5/ 1962 J orgensen160199 X 3,073,381 1/1963 Burmeister 160-199 X 3,131,753 5/1'964 Dixon160-199'X 3,131,754 5/1964 Merrill 160183 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,018,06712/1952 France.

586,018 12/1958 Italy.

HARRISON R. MOSELEY, Primary Examiner.

REINALDO P. MACHADO, Examiner.

D. L. TAYLOR, Assistant Examiner.

1. A FOLDING DOOR COMPRISING A SERIES OF PANELS HINGEDLY FITTED TO EACHOTHER IN EDGE-TO-EDGE RELATION BY MEANS OF A RAIL WITH ONLY A SINGLECYLINDRICAL SURFACE BETWEEN EVERY TWO ADJACENT PANELS, PINTLE MEANSAXIALLY SECURED TO THE END OF SAID RAIL, SAID RAIL BEING OF THE SAMELENGTH AS THE ADJACENT PANELS, SAID PANELS HAVING CONCAVE CYLINDRICALSURFACES ADJACENT SAID RAIL AND PLATELIKE HINGE ELEMENTS SECURED TO THEEND FACES OF THE PANELS AND HAVING THEIR ADJACENT ENDS OVERLAPPING ANDPIVOTALLY CONNECTED